The Morning Kickoff: The Sportings flee KC again

The Morning Kickoff is your start-the-day-right collection of stories, opinions, news and videos from around the globe. We scour the Web, you click the link. We're still working on our tagline.

Well, Sporting Kansas City's brief stay in Kansas City has ended, and they are Phoenix-bound again. Hmm, and the weather turned sour. Coincidence?

The team's first action during the second-stage of preseason will be a split-squad double-dose this Saturday against the MLS-expansion Portland Timbers and the soon-to-be-MLS-expansion Montreal Impact. Both games are from Grande Sports World in Casa Grande, Ariz. The Timbers game is at 12 p.m. and the Impact game is 1:30 p.m.

The bad news is, of course, that forward Teal Bunbury will miss 4-to-6 weeks with a dislocated elbow. He'll miss the next two weeks of camp, the as-of-yet-date-unknown friendly with Chivas de Guadalajara and very likely the First Kick against Chivas USA in Los Angeles and the second game in Chicago. Bummer.

, which is an exploration of the hidden influences on sports. There's a chapter on how home fans can influence a game, and it's not quite how you'd think. This book is sitting on my desk, can't wait to read it.

We don't often talk USL Pro here on the blog (because there isn't a team in the area), but we'll talk about the debut of Orlando City SC,

Why Orlando? Well, the franchise was relocated from Austin at the end of the year somewhat rancorously. OK, the real reason is that my favorite former Sporting KC player Lance Watson is on the team. Also, former KC defender Jose Burciaga Jr. is playing with them.